The Upside of Contempt
by ButterflyPages
Summary: On the cusp of a victory-a hard fought for promotion-an unqualified Thomas Grant shows up and snatches it from Olivia. Instead of rubbing it in her face, he wants her to help him uncover the racist practices of this company she has held dear for so long. Olivia joins him in this fight, but is definitely NOT interested in anything more. But the twists don't end there!
1. Touche

**Chapter 1**

**Touché**

* * *

"Liv, are you going to remember a brother when you come into your kingdom?" Harrison chided at the cafeteria table.

"Yeah, Liv, are we going to like, still be down when you become, like the man?" Charmaine said, in her best valley girl accent while flipping her shoulder length dreadlocks.

"You both need to stop with your jokes!" she said. "The bid results are not posted yet so until I see Quality Control Manager behind my name, I'm still a line operator."

"But we both know you will get the promotion. You jumped through all their hoops and you practically write the schedules now. Liv, today is your day. The world is your lobster or is it oyster?" Harrison said.

Olivia smiled broadly, finally allowing herself to imagine being a winner at life. She'd been working at Meharry's for 5 years, having secured this light industrial job as a temporary worker during a low time in her life. She had been a newly minted single parent, out of work, and seemingly out of luck, when she'd gotten the call to start at Meharry's on Monday. That had been the beginning of some stability in her life. Hindsight is 20-20. Olivia now saw clearly what her mother had lectured her repeatedly as a child and subsequently as a teenager, "Keep your head down, your legs closed, and your eyes open." Olivia had failed on all three accounts. As a good looking teenager, her head had been in the clouds as she was more interested in popularity and ostentation. She hadn't broken the closed legs admonition until senior year, but on that second bumbling sexual encounter she'd gotten pregnant with her son, Gabriel, now 7 years old. Had she really had her eyes open, she would have seen that it was a mistake to get involved with him. Her sperm donor, as she called Gabriel's father, initially tried to take responsibility for his contribution of 23 chromosomes. However, when the college recruiters came knocking to woo him to college on a football scholarship, Sean had left Baltimore and his pregnant ex-girlfriend alone to fend for herself.

All those details were now slightly distant memories. Olivia was relatively independent, still needing to depend on her mother for help with Gabriel. However, she was finally moving up in the world as indicated by this promotion.

"It's almost 12:15. Harrison, Charmaine...I'm nervous," said Olivia.

"Girl, don't be scared. It's in the bag," said Charmaine, as they left the cafeteria table to discard their lunch waste.

"You are right. It's not like this is a job to cure cancer or anything. I'll just be in charge of inspecting those colorful surgical specialty products we've been sealing in that impenetrable plastic and packing into boxes for years now," Olivia said trying to calm herself.

"But now when we see you as the big QCM, it'll strike fear into our little worker bee hearts," joked Harrison.

Olivia, Charmaine, and Harrison walked out of Meharry's large employee cafeteria and down the long corridor. The bid results were posted inside the break room on the bulletin board. As they approached, others were coming toward them looking at Olivia. She brushed it off and continued walking forward to what she knew was her chance to succeed, to win at life.

As they entered the room, there were a number of people there looking at the results. Olivia walked to the posting and used her finger to peruse the list. She saw the column for the new Quality Control Managers and almost missed the fact that her name wasn't listed there in her department. Instead the name, Thomas Grant, was written. It would have been an understatement to say that Olivia was disappointed. Mostly, she was angry. After receiving the unfortunate news, she turned on her heel and walked out of the room. Harrison and Charmaine looked from Olivia to the posting. When they saw what she had seen they went after her to offer comfort.

* * *

By the time, the day was over, Olivia felt a little better after her friends had done their best to encourage her. Everyone was surprised. Thomas Grant, the new guy who was horrible on the machines, got the job. He had recently begun working at Meharry's and hadn't made a good impression, especially not enough to warrant a promotion so early. As Olivia walked to her car, she was lost in her own unfortunate thoughts about what she knew was a slight by the powers that be at Meharry's.

"Olivia. Olivia. Olivia, do you have a minute?" a male voice called.

Olivia stopped when his voice finally registered in her mind, pulling her out of her thoughts. She was loathed to talk to him, especially today when she had just gotten the news. But she stopped and turned to face him, her car in sight.

"Yeah," she said. She kept her face stoic.

He moved closer. She moved back. "I just wanted to say that I thought you should have gotten the job. I put the bid in, yes, but I never thought I'd get it since I haven't been here long especially in comparison to you. I wanted to-"

What he probably intended as an apology of sorts, made her all the more angry.

"Apologize? Apologize for what? This happens every day in America," she said. "Some qualified black person and in my case a qualified black _woman_ is passed up for a promotion and some white person, less qualified, gets the job because they got the inside white track. That's what this is. Anyway, why you even working here? You don't fit. Shouldn't you be somebody's CEO. But it don't matter, they gave you the job," Olivia said. "No, I ain't accepting your sorry ass apology." She deliberately slipped into her best caricature of the angry black woman and then walked away in a huff. He reached out and pulled her back.

"What the hell?" she said. He nearly dragged her over to a secluded area between two cars.

"I'm sorry, but please listen. I'm not just a worker at Meharry's and my name is not Thomas. I'm Fitzgerald Grant, an investigative reporter. I'm working undercover for a story about Meharry's discriminatory personnel practices. Would you be willing to answer some questions and give me more information about your time at Meharry's?" he asked.

Olivia looked at him in total disbelief. She snatched away from him. "What? You're a reporter? How can I be sure that you aren't from the company trying to feel me out to see if I'm going to cause trouble?"

"Believe me Olivia, they wouldn't do that for just one employee. They have no idea that anyone is scrutinizing them. I know you are disgusted with them right now. But look at the upside. You can stick it to them by exposing their years of institutional racism," he said.

Olivia considered his words. "So that is why you were so crappy on the production line. You couldn't keep up with the machine to save your life," she said with a grin. "I'd love to stick it to all those white men on the board of directors, no offense toward your obvious whiteness."

"None taken. So are you in?" he asked, hopeful that she'd say yes for more reasons than one. He needed this story since he knew it would make the first page. And over the weeks he's been undercover, he couldn't resist his attraction to her. He was interested and wanted to get to know her.

Olivia inhaled a deep breath and made her decision. "Well, what do I have to lose aside from my job and it doesn't look like that is going to get better anytime soon. So I guess I am accepting your proposal."

"Great," he said extending his hand. Olivia took his hand and they shook on it to seal the deal. Before he let go, he asked another question.

"How about dinner? I know a great Italian place not to far from here," he said trying to sound casual.

"You mean like a date?" A deep scowl formed on her face.

"Yes." He countered with a broad smile.

Olivia pulled back her hand. "That's where you are out of luck, Fitzgerald. I don't date white men."

She left him with that comment and walked to her car.

He watched her walk away, admiring the way she moved. "Hey, Olivia. I didn't get your phone number." He cursed himself for not getting it as soon as she agreed.

Olivia froze for a second at her door. She eased into her car and slammed the door. He watched her crank up her Passat and back out.

She cruised up beside him and lowered her window. "I thought reporters knew how to find stuff out," she said to him through the glass. "Plus, you are a white man. Aren't things already easy enough for you?"

"Touché," he said when she drove off and left him standing there, grinning.

* * *

**Dear Penpals,**

**This story used to be, "The Upside of Disgust." I am going to have fun with this one.**


	2. Make Way for the Truth

**Chapter 2**

**Make Way for the Truth**

* * *

Olivia was happy to be home, but that is where her happiness ended. In fact she was quite sad. A good cry was what she needed after the disappointment of not getting the promotion. She could make it through dinner and then story time with her son, Gabriel. Then she would have her cry. She slid her key in the lock and turned.

"Surprise!"

She jumped at the voices that rang out as soon as she pushed open the door. The lights flipped on. She saw her small living room packed with people staring at her with gleeful expressions of exitement. Her mom and Gabriel were in the midst of the crowd. He held a balloon that read, "Congratulations!" That's when it registered for Olivia. This was a party to celebrate the supposed promotion.

"I think she's in shock, Maya!" Olivia's uncle Calvin said to her mother.

"Mommy, surprise! You are the boss now!" Gabriel said. He ran up to hug her.

"Momma, you shouldn't have," Olivia said to her mother after scooping up Gabriel in her arms for a hug and kiss. She couldn't rustle up the resolve to correct the obvious mistake. Telling everyone would be embarrassing. Seeing their pity-filled expressions would deepen her sadness. She would tell her mom later. Maybe she could look for a better job and that would be the news she would share, albeit later. Olivia smiled brightly and decided to celebrate-if not the promotion-the hope of something better on the horizon. She threw back her head and bellowed, "Let's get this party started!"

Someone put on music and Olivia stood and received the round of hugs and well-wishes from her friends and family.

* * *

Olivia sat on her bed with her laptop, pouring over job postings online. She toggled between several different sites.

"Damn…all the good jobs require at least a two year degree, but I already knew that," she said aloud.

Olivia always planned to go back to school. In the 7 years since high school there was never enough money or time. Her mother worked retail jobs which never brought in a living wage. Once Olivia got a steady job, they were able to move to a better neighborhood. It was a Catch-22 because the price of admission required a full time _and_ part time job. In the last year, Olivia was able to quit her part time job. Olivia's mother, Maya, only had experience working retail which provided her with a flexible enough schedule to ensure she could be there for Gabriel when he got off the school bus. With each year, going to college continued to shift to the bottom of the priority list.

Olivia clicked on the website for the local community college and began browsing the contents of the admissions tab. "I have to try to make it work somehow. Meharry's is just a dead end job that's going nowhere. The bastards...Come in, Momma," Olivia said.

Maya Pope walked into her bedroom still beaming from the party. "Why isn't the new Quality Control Manager getting her rest? You have an early start in the morning. You can't start slacking now," Maya said.

"Mama…a party? You didn't have to do that. I can't believe you were able to keep it a secret. I'm sure you didn't tell Gabriel."

"No, I couldn't tell my baby until he got off the bus today. You know he would have spilled the beans before now. But everyone is so proud of you, honey. Most of all me. I had to take this time to let you know how proud of you _I_ am. I know I was hard on you when you got pregnant at the end of high school…but baby…you have overcome so many obstacles. Being a single parent is hard. I know from experience. Gabriel has lacked for nothing because you never gave up," Maya said.

Olivia covered her mothers and that rested on her shoulder and squeezed. "Momma, I really appreciate you saying that, but I couldn't have done it without you."

They embraced. Olivia squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn't find the words to tell her mother the truth. She thought about Gabriel sleeping in the next room and how proud he had looked. She would have to find a way to go back to school and get a real career.

* * *

Fitz closed Olivia's personnel file and cursed himself for the mess he'd made of things. He dialed his brother, Ray.

"Hey Fitz, I'm glad you called. When do you think you will have the name of those employees who should be considered for rehire at the other plant. Is your little experiment working any better than the old fashioned way?"

"I don't know Ray. I'm kind of in a situation. I need your help," said Fitz.

Ray chuckled. "Uh oh, your undercover boss experiment has gone bust? Did someone discover that you aren't a regular worker, but a suit from corporate who has come to shut the plant down? I told you we should have told the employees what was happening and let them reapply for jobs at the other location. What is it?" said Ray.

"My only mistake was pretending like a QCM position was up for bid and bidding on it myself. There is a woman there who was really counting on that promotion when it was all a rouse. I could have done the same thing without inventing the promotion," said Fitz, "But I need to move her to a QCM position at the nearest location as soon as possible."

"Why? We can put her at the top of the list for consideration, but that's about it. What's so special about her?" said Ray

"She's a great employee and would do well in the position," said Fitz.

"I could say that about a lot of people, Fitz."

"When I saw how upset she was about not getting the promotion, I sort of lied about who I was on top of the lie I was already perpetrating."

"Brother, I don't understand. You are confusing me."

"I told her I was a reporter investigating the discriminatory practices at Meharry's then I asked her if she'd give me an interview for an expose."

"You what! Why would you do that?" said Ray.

"Hear me out before you judge. Over the last several months of my pretend job there as a regular employee, I began to…um…developed a liking...I became interested in her…romantically. I hadn't quite figured out how I would approach her about it. When I saw how disappointed she was about not getting the job and I overheard some others talking about how once again another black person was overlooked for a position…I just reacted."

"So the first thing you thought to do was to invent another ruse on top of the one you already created? This was a stupid move that could expose the company to all sorts of liability. Whether this was motivated by pity or sexual attraction, it doesn't matter. You need to fake resign and tell Bill to promote her to the position. When the plant is shut down in a couple of months, maybe I can look into getting her a lead position somewhere," said Ray.

"Ray, thanks for trying. I talk to you later."

"Ok, brother. Bye," said Ray.

Fitz hung up the phone and dialed his ex-wife, Mellie. In the four years since their divorce, they'd developed a solid friendship though they'd never discussed his romantic life. Fitz was desperate.

"Hello, Andrew. How are you?" said Fitz. Mellie's husband, Andrew answered the phone. They weren't quite friends, but in the last year, Andrew seemed less like he was tolerating Fitz.

"Fitz…I'm good. And you? How's business?" said Andrew.

"Good…great actually. We're in the middle of repositioning a recent acquisition. How's the car business?" said Fitz.

"Good, but it could be better. We're trying to get the rest of our inventory out since it's the end of the year to make room for the new year's stock. Well here's Mellie. Good talking to you Fitz," said Andrew.

"Same to you," said Fitz.

That was the extent of their chit chat now-an exchange of niceties and the status of their respective careers-but it was better than the chilly reception Fitz got from him when he and Mellie's relationship progressed and they became engaged. According to Mellie, Andrew didn't understand why she and her ex-husband still kept in touch even though they had no children together. Over the last year, Andrew finally accepted that Fitz was not a threat.

"Hey stranger. I haven't heard from you in more than a month. What's going on?"

"Sorry Mel. Do you remember me telling you about the company we bought and-"

"Yeah…the medical supply one. Oh and did you do what you said you were going do...pretend you were a worker to get the pulse of the people," Mellie said with a chuckle.

"That's why I'm calling, Mellie. I need your opinion about something…"

"O-kay…sounds pretty ominous. What's up?" said Mellie.

Fitz gave her the details and waited.

"What exactly do you need my opinion about, Fitz."

"Well, I'm trying to decide what to do next. I know I need to drop the act and let Bill finish the closing. That way Olivia would be able to move into the QCM position. But that doesn't fix the problem of how to approach her with the truth. I mean there's the first lie and then the second one. Should I just tell her straight or-"

Fitz stopped at the sound of Mellie's laughing.

"Fitz…I'm sorry for laughing. You've never asked me about this type of thing so I'm a little surprised but I really don't know what to say. If it were me I'd want to know the truth. I'd be mad about the lies, but flattered that a man would go to so much trouble because he wanted to date me. And obviously this man is considerably wealthy so I'd get over my reservations quickly and see what happens."

"Yeah…I should tell her the truth, but I wish there was some way for her to get to know me a little first."

"Well didn't you get to know her over the months you were pretending, Fitz?"

"No, not really. I was…close, but I kept my distance for obvious reasons," said Fitz.

"Well, you should have known she would be disappointed not to get the promotion," said Mellie.

"Yes, but I wasn't thinking about that…Mellie, I should go. Thanks for listening."

"Anytime Fitz."

* * *

Olivia was bent over her laptop totally focused on completing an online college application for the local community college. Her ringing phone startled her. She grabbed it and frowned at the unfamiliar number. When she saw that it was 9:30, she knew she needed to get to bed since she had work tomorrow.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hi, Olivia. This is Fit…Thomas."

"Thomas…from work, Thomas?"

"Yes, Thomas from work Thomas."

"How did you…how did you get my number?" she said.

"Well you kind of dared me to earlier," he said.

Olivia pulled the phone from her ear and looked at it. Despite their brief exchange in the parking lot, she never expected him to call. She hadn't thought anymore about his request for an interview.

"Look, Thomas, I know I said I would help you with your article, but I've changed my mind," she said.

"Why?" said Fitz.

"I can't afford any trouble right now. Besides, I need to be focusing on something bigger than a dead end job at Meharry's," she said.

"Something better like what?" Fitz asked.

"College…a degree..." she said.

"What degree are you interested in pursuing? Maybe I can help," he said.

Olivia was prepared to answer but stopped herself. "Wait a minute, Thomas. How long are you going to keep up your act as an employee? You've just been promoted. What's _your _plan?"

"I feel bad about what happened. I'm going to quit tomorrow so you can have the position. It should have been yours from the start," said Fitz. He took a deep breath. This was the perfect opportunity to reveal it all. "You see…I'm actually…in reality, I'm-"

"No, Thomas! You can't quit now. You have to write that article. Bring Meharry's down. I was mad as hell about getting passed over, but you know it was a blessing in disguise to get me on the right track. I made good grades in high school. I want to learn the law so I can help fight companies like Meharry's that are always trying to keep people down. It's all coming together even as I'm talking to you, man! Stay as Meharry's. I'll help you with the article. In the meantime, I am going to start some classes at the community college. Since you're QCM, you can approve me leaving early. Are you in, Thomas?"

Fitz was bundle of nerves and adrenaline as Olivia changed gears midstream. He was ready to come clean, but he hesitated. For the first time since he'd known her he wasn't picking up on any vibes of contempt from her. He vowed to tell her the truth soon, but he wanted to do it in person and preferably after she saw him in a positive light.

"Yes, I'm in, Olivia. Would you be available to have dinner with me tomorrow night?" Fitz said. As soon as he said it, he inwardly cursed himself for being so hasty.

"Thomas, I was being real with you earlier tonight. I don't date white guys. I'm not racist or anything. I'm raising my son alone and I don't have time for dating around. Truthfully, I don't have time for dating at all right now. So if this dinner is a date or something, I'm gonna have to pass," she said.

"Well, I…um wanted to talk to you more about Meharry's and you said something about college. I have some friends over at the community college-"

"I didn't mean to assume…you know what that does. Okay. I can't do dinner because I have to be home with my son. How about we grab something light and quick right after work?" she said.

"Perfect, Olivia. Well, I should go. Thanks for talking to me."

"See you tomorrow, Thomas."

After they hung up, Fitz couldn't help the smile that spread across his lips. He hated his middle name, but it was beginning to grow on him each time she said it. He knew the situation was still very delicate. There were the lies and the truth. The upside was that he had a small window to make everything right and hopefully change her mind about dating him.

/

**Something I resurrected from the BP vault, LOL... Kinda light and airy...**


End file.
